Mariner Janes
the cutthroat’s wishlist
crept in to covered spaces, crawled in anywhere, became punctured with hidden, felt up and abandoned
memory loss, if reconstructed
in a three dimensional way
ship steers, bucks left
uncoiled and repulsed
if you were to look back
at the crux of the ocean
the dividing line, the long game
you’d see an ocean hovering on the cut
tilting out a clock
if there were ballads like those
or revenge songs sung
into cold wild night, unabashed
wind and wood wound into bent into
curves composite went and woof
wavebreaking and a thick pulse
the jestwind, the muscle and howl
oceancrusted with foam and drowned men
what a peace i found there
amongst the kelp and the mud.
Mariner Janes was born in Victoria, BC, and raised in East Vancouver. His books include The Monument Cycles (Talonbooks 2013), and blueprint, a chapbook. He has also been published in West Coast Line. While studying at SFU, he co-edited iamb magazine, a venue for new and emerging writers.
Mariner works in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and aims to bring the multitude of voices he finds there into his work, through found poetry, transcription, and storytelling. He is currently at work on a second collection of poetry and short stories.